Fed up of being bounced around from GP to physio to... to....

I believe that my 'diagnosis' is a probably cause. It is aggravated by overuse, but I refuse to do no exercise. The usual place for bursitis in the hip is on the outer edge of the hip joint, apparently. Mine is more straight down the front of my leg, a few inches down from where the joint flexes.

Physio didn't introduce herself as a trainee and she always wore a badge with her name on it. THat didn't say trainee either. She seemed very thorough, but didn't pin down exactly what was going on.

2 mins with the lady the other day at the hospital referral place and she was able to say exactly where the pain was and what she thought was causing it.

My main concern is actually about my back. I used to have a bad back, when the kids were little. Then when the hip started to be painful, I realised my back wasn't bothering me anymore. Now she's identified that my back doesn't flex when I bend forward, I'm wondering whether it's something I've brought on myself. She says I'm aggravating the hip joint by bending completely from my hip and not using my back. Perhaps I've avoided flexing my spine to avoid the backache and it's caused this instead. She said I had good flexibility when bending backwards though.

The thing is... I DIDN'T have good flexibility bending backwards a while ago either. I would lie on my front in bed and be unable to arch my back (bringing my shoulders up by pushing on my arms) as it all felt sore and locked. I practised lots to improve as I like to sleep on my front and was finding it difficult to not be able to without pain.

My main worry therefore, is that if my flexibility is improved in my spine to aid my hip, then my backache will return. That was less easy to manage than my hip pain as it was more pervasive.

2 things stand out here. If the physio was a student then they should have declared that in their opening greeting. If you are not improving then your GP should refer to a hip surgeon to rule out any other pathology that won't show up on an X ray. I would go back to your GP. Hope you feel better soon.

Hip pain worsens. Can't avoid it any more as it starts to interfere with daily activities. Back to GP. Still no idea. Referral to physio.

Wait 12 weeks for a physio. She tries all sorts of exercises. Some help with the stiffness, others aggravate the condition to the point of it being a constant problem, not just an intermittent one. Am reduced to being unable to climb stairs or bend without pain.

Physio gives up and refers me to Muscularskeletal dept. Stopping doing the exercises means that my symptoms settle down again to intermittently painful, instead of constantly.

They see me (last week). Prod and poke and ask more questions. Check over my xrays again.

Verdict. Very flat footed. Hypermobile. I don't stand right. My back doesn't bend when I bend forward. I move all from my hip. It's most likely bursitis, but not the normal site for hip bursitis.

Referred BACK to the physio dept that was seeing me in the first place. Apparently I was probably seeing a trainee. And I am going to be sent to see someone else instead.